One Weekend, Two Marathons

Over the weekend, I ran my 24th and 25th marathons, crossing off a couple more states in the process. I wasn't racing, but instead looking to get in a couple solid workouts without beating myself up too bad. The mission was a success.

Saturday morning, I was up in Bristol, New Hampshire, a small town in the center of the state bursting with the reds and oranges of New England fall foliage. The winning time last year was a 3:01, so my original plan was to get in shape over the summer and then try for the win. But, I never got in shape. And, in chatting with other guys at the start, I realized it wouldn't have mattered if I had... I wasn't the only one who had that idea. The winner this year ran a 2:39 and there were five guys under 2:52.

But, back to my run. The rain had mercifully let up as we all headed off the line. I was a touch quick, but noticed quickly and slowed myself to around 7:30/mile. I stayed there for the next twenty miles, staying as consistent as I could. The course was full of hills -- 1,239 feet of elevation gain -- so there weren't a lot of others hitting an even pace. I'd pass folks on the uphills, and then they'd come tearing past me on the downs.

Late into the race, around mile 19, I was still feeling really good and decided to speed up a bit and finish up strong. I ran three miles around 7:10, then dropped down to 7:00 for the next two, and finally to 6:47 and 6:35 for the last two full miles. The course was a loop around a beautiful lake and I just kept thinking how much more I was enjoying this than my previous lakeside marathon. Interestingly, I finished up a few minutes faster, in 3:13:18, despite just looking for a workout after no taper. Goes to show you that you never know what to expect from 26.2.

I took a quick shower after the race, then started driving east. The roads I were on were small and cut through some beautiful areas. I've never been the type for Sunday drives in the country, but if I was, this is definitely where I'd head for one.

Our news editor was nice enough to let me crash on his futon in South Portland, Maine. Shortly after my arrival, he took me on a quick tour of all the local sites, which included a not-quite-life-size statue of Joan Benoit. Why they didn't make it life size, I'm not sure, but it looks a little creepy as is. My legs were sore, but not horribly so, and I was feeling pretty good about the prospect of running another marathon the next day.

But, after going to bed, I started to get progressively more stiff and sore. I woke up several times in the night, feeling like someone was stabbing my quads with a dull fork. Eventually, at 4:45, I gave up on sleep and started checking emails on my phone. Three hours later, we were lined up in the rain at the start line.

The Maine Marathon was an order of magnitude larger than New Hampshire and I wasn't enjoying the size. The marathon, half marathon, and relay all started together, so at 7:35 pace, I was in the thick of a massive crowd. People were having the dumbest conversations ever, they kept weaving in front of me, I think I got spit on a couple times, it was raining, etc. To sum it up, I was in a lot of pain, frustrated, and couldn't believe that I had been stupid enough to sign up for two marathons in two days. The prospect of running for three-plus hours on those spent legs was not at all appealing.

We lost the half-marathoners a little after mile six. By then, the stream of people had spread out quite a bit too, so the crowds were no longer an issue. I finally was able to settle into a little bit of a rhythm but I was still very nervous about having to run for so much longer when my legs were already so trashed.

The rain continued on as we ran and picked up intensity. There were a few rolling hills, but not nearly as many as had been in New Hampshire. I let my mind wander and wasn't really paying all that much attention to the run itself. The miles passed quickly and soon I found myself surprised to see a Mile 20 sign. Hey, I can do this, only another 10K from here. I decided to pick up the pace the last six as I'd done in New Hampshire, but my faster pace wasn't quite as fast as it was the day before. Still, I was happy to find that I could average under 7:05 pace for the last 5 miles after having run 47 in the previous day-and-a-half. I finished up in 3:16:59 with a smile on my face.

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